Archived News

NO ARK NEEDED — Kein ayin hara and pu pu pu, the Yiddish equivalent to knock on wood, Chabad House Center did not see flood waters ascend upon the property on Monday as Indian Creek threatened to overflow its banks after three days and many inches of rain. Rabbi Mendy Wineberg said as flash flood warnings extended through mid-morning, Gan Chabad Preschool was cancelled for the day “out of an abundance of caution” making sure the safety of the children, their parents, teachers and staff took priority.

LOCAL FLAVOR IN OCTOBER OPRAH MAGAZINE — Regular readers of The Oprah Magazine may have noticed a familiar name on page 96 of the October 2018 issue. KC native Julie Fingersh, daughter of Pella and Jack Fingersh, penned “Sweet and Lowbrow.” You can find her byline in several other publications, including the Huffington Post online. Proud mama Pella noted another article is expected in Oprah again soon.

HEN HOUSE KOSHER UPDATE – Last week the Vaad published a newsletter announcing Hen House has hired Naomi George to manage the kosher deli “and enhance its offerings with her culinary expertise.” According to the update, Hen House continues to seek an additional deli worker to supplement George’s work so that the “counter can return to full service during working hours.” If you know of anyone who can serve as a deli mashgiach on behalf of the Vaad, contact Rabbi Yitzchak Mizrahi, the Vaad’s executive director, at .

WORLD FAMOUS ISRAELI MUSICIAN HERE TONIGHT — One of the world’s most celebrated musicians, Israeli Violinist Shmuel Ashkenasi, will perform at 7:30 p.m. tonight, Thursday, Oct. 11, as part of the Park International Center for Music Concert Series at the 1900 Building, 1900 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Mission Woods, Kansas. Ashkenasi is the gold medalist of not one but three international violin competitions and considered one of the world’s most pre-eminent violinists and chamber musicians. He is also considered one of the best violin instructors in the world still coaching today. Lolita Lisovskaya-Sayevich will join him on piano.
He will perform pieces by Ludwig van Beethoven, Jean Sibelius and Edvard Grieg. The entire second half of his concert will be an unusual offering for audiences. They will get to witness a master teacher coach gifted violin students and get a snapshot view of the process behind becoming one of the best.
For ticket information go to icm.park.edu. Tickets may be purchased at 1900bldg.com.

“Outside the Wire: Ten Lessons I’ve Learned in Everyday Courage” by Jason Kander, Twelve Books, $28, 224 pages, August 2018.

When Jason Kander was about to deploy to Afghanistan as part of his Army service, an instructor in intelligence school shared this bit of intelligence with him:
“… one Jewish soldier to another — [he] told me not to tell any of my translators that I was Jewish, because they wouldn’t want to work with me if they found out. I didn’t know any better, so I took his advice.”
But Kander’s big secret wasn’t much of a secret after all. It turns out that like Kander, his translator, Salam, had family in Kansas City. They spent a lot of time together, and Kander asked him questions about Islam, but the issue of Kander’s religion never came up.
A few days before he returned home, Kander broke the big news: He told Salam that he was Jewish.

CHICAGO — Freeborn & Peters LLP announced that Ari W. Krigel, a partner in the firm’s Real Estate Practice Group and a member of Freeborn’s Food Industry Team, has been named one of Law Bulletin Media’s 40 Illinois attorneys under 40 for 2018. A Freeborn attorney has earned the distinction each of the last 19 years.
Krigel grew up in Leawood and was a member of the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy’s class of 2000.
The 40 Under Forty recognizes the 40 “most talented young attorneys practicing in Illinois,” according to Law Bulletin Media, which also publishes the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and Chicago Lawyer magazine. The honorees were chosen from among more than 1,500 nominations for their intelligence, passion, success in the office, desire to help their community and willingness to work hard at their profession. The recipients all were under age 40 prior to May 1, 2018.

Have you heard about the rabbi and the minister preaching to their congregations together from Israel? This is not the beginning of a joke but rather a serious idea Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff and Rev. Adam Hamilton plan to put in action next week when they travel together in Israel and preach three sermons to be presented to their respective congregations. Together Rev. Hamilton, senior pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection (COR), and Rabbi Nemitoff, senior rabbi of The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah, will walk in the footsteps of one of Israel’s greatest kings, David.

RECORD BREAKER — When the Kansas City Chiefs play the Denver Broncos in Denver on Monday Night Football next week, Mitchell Schwartz — the team’s only Jewish player — will celebrate 100 consecutive starts in his NFL career and he said reaching the big milestone feels “pretty good.”
“My second year in the league when I was with the (Cleveland) Browns another player got his hundredth start and we were in awe…I didn’t think it was viable for me at the time,”  he said. “… it’s pretty exciting. A lot of luck goes into that … it’s a really cool thing.”
Off the field Schwartz loves to cook. On Monday, Oct. 15, Schwartz will talk about his passion for food, football and his faith at the Jewish Community Center. During the evening program, Schwartz will demonstrate his recipe for potato latkes, chat about the “Eat My Schwartz” book he co-authored with his brother Geoff — a former NFL and Chiefs player — and host a “meet and greet” with his beloved pup Cupcake. The event will be in the Social Hall of the Jewish Community Campus. Sports Radio 610 Commentator Bob Fescoe will talk with Schwartz, and those attending will get to sample the Schwartz latkes. There will be a Q&A, book sale and signing.
The Schwartz program is $10 for J members and $15 for non-members. To make a reservation, visit thejkc.org/eatmyschwartz. Attendees are asked to help Cupcake out and bring dog food or treats for the Jewish Family Services’ Pet Food Pantry.

SHE’LL BE THE GRANDEST LADY IN THE OP PARADE — Gertrude Stern has been named Grand Marshall of the Overland Park Fall Festival Parade, taking place at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 29. The parade will travel through the heart of Downtown Overland Park and will feature more than 100 entries including high school marching bands, local businesses, classic cars, scout groups, dance troupes and city and state representatives.
I’m told this will be the first time in her 108 years that Stern has ridden in a convertible or been in a parade. She is a member of the Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah. Her family believes she is the oldest living resident of Overland Park and, possibly, in the Kansas City metro. Stern and her late husband, Morris, were married for 62 years. She has three children, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Her lifelong passion for sewing led to volunteering for the Retired & Senior Volunteer Program of Johnson County (RSVP) in 1973, the same year the program began in Overland Park. She also volunteered with the Red Cross for 40 years and the Village Presbyterian Sewing Group making items for hospitals and retirement homes. She is an Honorary Life Member of the Ecumenical Project for International Cooperation (EPIC), which creates agricultural sustainability programs in Latin America. Stern continues to live independently, is still active and is an avid reader who can often be seen with a Danielle Steele novel.
The parade is part of the Downtown Overland Park Fall Festival. To learn more about the event, visit opkansas.org/events/overland-park-fall-festival/.

WINKLER WINS AN EMMY — Forty-two years after his first nomination, Henry Winkler has won his first Emmy Award. Last week, Winkler won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance as renowned acting coach Gene Cosineau on HBO’s “Barry.”
Supporters of the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education will get a chance to see “The Fonz” in person next month when the 72-year-old “Happy Days” alum will share highlights of his career at MCHE’s 25th-anniversary celebration Sunday, Oct. 28, on the enclosed Cohen Community Stage at Starlight Theatre. According to JTA, Winkler’s German Jewish parents immigrated to the U.S. in 1939 and helped found Congregation Habonim, a Conservative German synagogue in Manhattan. Winkler was married there to Stacey Furstman.
For more information about the event, call 913-327-8192 or email .

KOSHER AT HEN HOUSE — The Vaad is on the lookout for a new mashgiach (kosher supervisor) for the kosher deli counter at Hen House at 117th and Roe. Until last week, Rabbi Binyamin Mazer has been the mashgiach, but he has embarked on a new career in hospital chaplaincy.
In an email last week, Vaad Executive Director Rabbi Yitzchak Mizrahi said, “With no immediate successor for managing the deli, the Vaad is working closely with Hen House management to ensure the kosher menu continues to be offered. Hen House has allocated more staff to do the preparation, and the Vaad is providing on-site supervision daily while the food is prepared.”
The email went on to report the kosher counter will not always be manned in the interim, although kosher food will continue to be stocked on the shelves.
“Please be patient as we work through this phase,” he said. “More importantly, please support Hen House and acknowledge the commitment Hen House management is making to continue serving our community. We can’t take this for granted. We are seeking a new kosher deli manager who can simultaneously serve as the mashgiach. If you know of anyone qualified to work in this capacity, please put us in touch.”

MORE JEWISH EMMYS — I’m a little late to the party when it comes to the “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” but after it won eight Emmy Awards, I decided to check it out. I’ve discovered it is very Jewish. As JTA reported, the Amazon show about a Jewish housewife turned stand-up comedian won nearly every award for which it was nominated, including best comedy, best writing for a comedy series, best directing for a comedy series and best actress in a comedy.
Amy Sherman-Palladino, the show’s creator, won two awards, for writing and directing. She dedicated the writing prize to her Jewish father, Don Sherman, who died in 2012. In an article published by The Forward in 2017 when the show premiered, Sherman-Paladino said “Mrs. Maisel” is a love letter to her father.
“[My dad] was a stand-up comedian, so I grew up hearing about Greenwich Village and the Borsch Belt,” she said in a phone interview. “There (was) always a group of older Jewish men in our backyard trying to make each other laugh for hours and hours.”
Rachel Brosnahan, who is not Jewish, won an Emmy for her role as the titular Mrs. Maisel. Alex Borstein, the “Mad TV” alum who plays Susie Myerson, Mrs. Maisel’s gruff manager, won the second award of the evening. Her mother was a Holocaust survivor from Hungary.
And that wedding proposal Emmy-winning director Glenn Weiss made during his acceptance speech … bet you didn’t know he’s Jewish. He won for directing the Academy Awards show.

VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINES APPROACHING — While the temperatures are getting cooler the political climate is getting hotter by the minute. Regardless of which party you support, all sides are promoting the importance of voting and you can’t vote unless you are registered. The last day to register to vote in the fall elections in Kansas is Tuesday, Oct. 16. Advance voting by mail begins Oct. 17 and advance in-person voting begins Oct. 22. For more information, visit jocoelection.org.
In Missouri, the last day to register to vote is Oct. 10. For more information about voting in Missouri, visit sos.mo.gov.

CLEVELAND’S JEWISH PLACEKICKER — Newly acquired placekicker Greg Joseph played a big part as the Cleveland Browns snapped a 19-game winless streak with a 21-17 victory over the visiting New York Jets in a primetime NFL game Sept. 20.
Joseph, who played football and soccer at Donna Klein Jewish Academy in Boca Raton, Florida, and was a kicker in the Miami Dolphins training camp earlier in the summer, was signed by the Browns Sept. 17. Because it was a Thursday night game, he and the Browns are not scheduled to play again until Sunday, Sept. 30.

AJC’S WALL STREET JOURNAL AD SUPPORTS ISRAEL — Every year in September, global leaders and change-makers gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York for two weeks to discuss the burning issues of our time and set the global agenda for the year ahead. The 73rd session of the U.N. General Assembly opened this week, and the body’s annual high-level segment — formally known as the “general debate” — began earlier this week on Tuesday, where every country’s leader gets to address the world.
On Tuesday, the same day that session began, a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal purchased by AJC shined a harsh spotlight on one specific anti-Israel tactic that the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) must end: the permanent item on its agenda that focuses on bashing the Jewish state. In addition, this week AJC will hold more than 70 advocacy meetings with heads of state, foreign ministers and other senior government officials from around the globe. One of the top agenda items is “ending the U.N.’s insidious bias against Israel at the UNHRC.”
According to AJC, no other country has ever been subjected to a permanent agenda item, not even such repressive regimes as Syria or North Korea. This means that each time the Council meets to address human rights issues, Israel is condemned, vilified and bullied. In fact, since 2006, Israel — home to only 0.1 percent of the world’s population — has been the subject of more than a quarter of all resolutions issued by the UNHRC.
AJC wants the Jewish community to take a stand and is seeking signatures to a petition calling on the president of the UNHRC to put a stop to this injustice against the Jewish state. To sign the petition, go to unjustUN.org.
In an AJC press release distributed earlier this week, AJC notes, “The U.N. Charter calls for the ‘equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small.’ Nowhere does it say, ‘Except for Israel.’
“Take action now and call on the UNHRC to stop treating Israel differently from all other nations.”

The Midwest Center for Holocaust Education (MCHE) will celebrate 25 years of making a difference in our community Sunday, Oct. 28, on the enclosed Cohen Community Stage at Starlight Theatre. The celebration provides an excellent opportunity to honor the past and protect the future, with proceeds benefiting MCHE’s school and community programs.
A cocktail reception begins at 5:30 p.m. with a seated dinner at 6:30 p.m. and the program immediately following. Recent Emmy Award winner and author Henry Winkler will share key moments from his life’s journey and highlights from an exceptional career that continues to engage multiple generations of fans.

Award-winning Jewish theater producer Daryl Roth was in town last week to catch a peak at the KC Rep’s “Last Days of Summer,” which she is producing. The musical is based on a book by Jewish author Steve Kluger, who also wrote the book and the lyrics for the plan. It runs through Sept. 30 at Spencer Theater on the UMKC campus.

A mentalist is someone who performs feats that demonstrate extraordinary mental powers, such as mind-reading. Sidney Friedman takes that a step further as he melds music and mind together when he performs his feats of mentalism.
Why did Friedman, who will be in Kansas City Thursday, Oct. 4, for an event put on by the Jewish Federation (see box) meld music and mind together? It was a way for him combine his two loves. Friedman’s first love is music. He earned a bachelor’s degree in music composition and piano from the Eastman School of Music and attended a post graduate program in Stockholm, Sweden. All of this led him to his original career choice as a composer. But his vocation, or gift, as a mentalist eventually changed his life.

LAWRENCE – Knowing that her Jewish ancestors were forced by the Nazis to flee Europe and that those who did not perished in the Holocaust, University of Kansas Professor of Visual Art Tanya Hartman has always made art that is sympathetic to the plight of immigrants and refugees.
Now, with the controversies raised by President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies, Hartman’s work is more relevant than ever. Perhaps that’s why the film she’s working on was accepted into the Open Spaces Kansas City Arts Experience, which kicked off last month and runs through Oct. 28 at various locations around town. A 20-minute excerpt has already been shown twice by JVS.

For 74 years, the Jewish Community Relations Bureau|American Jewish Committee has been working to eliminate injustice and discrimination at home and abroad. Only three people have guided the agency during that time: Sidney Lawrence, David Goldstein and, for the last 20 years, Marvin Szneler. JCRB|AJC will soon have a new leader as Szneler has chosen to step away and begin a new chapter in his career this month.